To the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University,

In 1968, we engaged in disruptive peaceful civil disobedience at NU to bring attention to the racism we experienced. We took over the Bursar’s Office on a Friday. Many of us were frightened, but we felt this action was necessary. We were following in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who used civil disobedience to change society.

There were calls to have us expelled and arrested. We were also told that our actions would upset the alumni and donors of NU. But the administration decided to negotiate with the leadership of B100, and the takeover concluded peacefully.
Many of us have been struck by the similarity in the outcome of our building takeover with what happened last week on Deering Meadow. We were delighted that the University did not call in the police as has happened at so many other campuses around our country. We were truly proud of our alma mater. In the past, some of us had been very disillusioned with NU, but the actions of University President Michael Schill filled us with pride.
There are now calls to fire the president. We disagree. We think the false and provocative charge that the agreement NU reached with the Deering Meadow demonstrators supports antisemitism should not be given any credence.
We are proud of our University, and if the University listens to alumni, then please listen to us. We support the president.

Signed,

John Trimble (McCormick ‘71)
Millicent Brown Fauntleroy (Medill, ’70, MSJ ’71)
Dorothy J. Harrell (SESP ‘71)
Eleanor Steele Stewart (WCAS ’69)
Marianne Jackson (WCAS ‘70)
Leslie E. Harris (WCAS ‘70)
Widmon Butler (WCAS ’70)
Debra Avant Bell-Hill (SESP ’71, MA ’72 )
Eva Jefferson Paterson (WCAS ‘71)
Joyce K. Wade (SESP ’70)
Daphne Maxwell Reid (WCAS ‘70)
Jim Pitts (WCAS ‘65, MA ‘68, Ph.D. ‘71)
Laura Richards (Medill ‘71)
Herman C. S. Cage (WCAS ‘69, MBA ‘73)
Audrey Hinton (WCAS ‘69)
Joyce Wade (SESP ‘70)
Juaquita E. Harris Jackson (B.S. Communication ‘70)
Maxine Mitchell (WCAS ‘71)
Jocklyn Smith (WCAS ‘71)
Joanne Williams (Communication ‘71)
Saundra Malone/Kimya Moyo (SESP ‘69)
Dolores Wilson (WCAS ‘70)

Editor’s Note: This letter may not represent the views of every individual member of the Black 100.

If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.